David SwensonClearwater, Minnesota

David Swenson is a ceramic artist originally from Rhode Island and relocated to Minnesota in 2009 after receiving a Fogelberg Fellowship from Northern Clay Center. Before that he had traveled to study ceramics in Germany at Töpferei Dambeck and decorative techniques in Deruta, Italy, and Bergen, Norway.

In 2012 he received a Minnesota State Arts board grant to research integrating his ceramics with sonic arts. He has been a visiting artist and lecturer at the University of Minnesota, the University of Wisconsin and The School of the Art Institute in Chicago. He has taught and is presently teaching in community education and after school programs in the twin cities and surrounding areas


Swen describes his work as "paying homage to history and decorative arts." His favorite part about being a potter is making works that will become part of people's lives. He says, "These works are meant to embellish while providing service in the home and during daily rites of sustenance."